Quasielastic neutrino (antineutrino) reactions in nuclei and the axial-vector form factor of the nucleon

Abstract

Quasielastic neutrino and antineutrino reactions in nuclei are studied to investigate the effect of the nuclear medium on the determination of axial dipole mass M A in nuclei. The calculations are done in the local density approximation and various nuclear effects like Pauli blocking, Fermi motion of nucleons and strong renormalization effects in the spin-isospin channel are taken into account. The nuclear effects are found to be quite large at low q 2, but the data in this region are too meagre to influence the determination of M A. The experimental data on differential and total cross sections are found to be consistent with M A as determined from deuterium experiments and no conclusive evidence for quenching of M A in nuclei is found. On the other hand, the latest neutrino experiment by SKAT collaboration is found to be inconsistent with our theoretical results as well as with other neutrino experiments.